Welcome to the Hot Cookie days! After my coffee house days I put  my performance life away to build a family.but every week I tried to put a song idea in note book..Once I got old and family set I came back to my music doing a few songs a year...then I got this terminal type feedback on my timeline so I grabbed up the best music folk I knew over the years...put a studio band together (Hot Cookie) to record 100 HIT songs from the notes I took every week for 50 years. They are not for us to perform but for you to.  We picked just 2 songs from every year's notebook that we felt were hits that could change folks' lives if they covered them...so here they are. Contact us if you need the rights..Be well Do Well and thank you for the years of wonder...e

All Hit Songs By Edwin H. Balder

Welcome to the Hot Cookie days! After my coffee house days I put  my performance life away to build a family.but every week I tried to put a song idea in note book..Once I got old and family set I came back to my music doing a few songs a year...then I got this terminal type feedback on my timeline so I grabbed up the best music folk I knew over the years...put a studio band together (Hot Cookie) to record 100 HIT songs from the notes I took every week for 50 years. They are not for us to perform but for you to.  We picked just 2 songs from every year's notebook that we felt were hits that could change folks' lives if they covered them...so here they are. Contact us if you need the rights..Be well Do Well and thank you for the years of wonder...e
All Rights Reserved Edwin H. Balder
Thanks so much to my band: Hot Cookie
See Our Music Videos Here> https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-509h42heKT05D8egf2U9w

Singer/Songwriter Hits You Can Cover into Fame  By Songwriter Edwin H. Balder

Hit Material

I know I Knew this once...

All These Lies by Edwin H Balder

(verse) Sitting in my car
afraid to write
the words that I am sending off to you tonight
it will  start with dear and then your name
and with every tear I'll break down in shame 

(Chorus) I didn't think I remember 
didn't think I remember 
what it's like to cry 
like to cry 
I wouldn't call it surender
just relief form all theses lies
all theses lies
didn't think I remember 
all theses lies

(Verse 2)I spell out the truth
spell out all the pain
hoping that somehow love can still remain
Please know I take all of the blame
treating our love like it was a game

(Chorus) I didn't think I remember what it's like to cry 
I wouldn't call it surender
 just relief form 
all theses lies
all theses lies
all theses lies
(Bridge)
do you get lonely do you ever get sad
do you get tired of feeling lost & mad
do you ever long for  the things we once had
Do you ever wonder why things didn't go as we planned

( outro)
I didn't think I remember
I didn't think I remember
I didn't think I remember
all theses lies
I didn't think I remember
all theses lies
I didn't think I remember
all theses lies
I didn't think I remember
all theses lies
all theses lies
all theses lies


Link to best of my country hits that you can cover to get to the top... https://soundcloud.com/edwin-balder/sets/country-hits-you-might-need?si=307edea8be674dc3bedee9345a814080&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

All Rights Reserved Edwin H. Balder
Thanks so much to my band: Hot Cookie
See Our Music Videos Here> https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-509h42heKT05D8egf2U9w

All These Lies by Edwin H Balder

Lucky to learn from Joni and John....

One More Toke By Edwin H. Balder

(Intro) It's hard to say how much spending my paycheck at the Troubadour changed me. ...Selling Dictionaries and magazines door to door my daytime penitentiary...
But the nights digesting every star bite under those cheap lights engaged me... to speak my truth plainly...to speak my truth bravely......


(Verse) I wonder back into that dive hotel room now and then
and meet with old friends... Everyone making amends ...Time just transcends

Playing and singing our dream songs....Hoping stardom comes along

So we can all run away............Tilt-a-whirl day

In a cloud of smoke.................................Where nobody’s broke

Maybe one more toke and I can stay…..aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

 (Bridge) now it's just Joni, John and I 
sitting eating apple pie
On a river in the sky
A chelsea morning drifting by
with our souvenirs that survived

Blank paper be my friend
and let me once again
Tell a story in a song that flatters
that lifts us all from the tatters
to be music truth seekers
to my mentors and my teachers



So I.... …..

(outro) I wonder back into that dive hotel room now and then
and meet with old friends... Everyone making amends ...Time just transcends

Playing and singing our dream songs....Hoping stardom comes along

So we can all run away.............Tilt-a-whirl day

In a cloud of smoke.................................Where nobody’s broke

Maybe one more toke and I can stay….
Maybe one more toke and I can stay….

All Rights Reserved by Edwin H. Balder
Thanks to My Band : Hot Cookie

One More Toke By Edwin H. Balder

Well If I had to pick a super power....

Want To Go Back In Time By Edwin H. Balder


I want to stop the clocks
I want to go back... back in time
I was hoping maybe baby
we could go back and find
where it all went wrong
when things seemed to be going fine
I want to stop the clocks
I want to go back... back in time

What has come between us
what's breaking us apart
I never saw it coming
how did it all start
I loved you forever
how did I break your heart

I want to stop the clocks
I want to go back... back in time
I was hoping maybe baby
we could go back and find
where it all went wrong
when things seemed to be going fine
I want to stop the clocks
I want to go back... back in time

nothing seems the same
now that we're through
I wake up every day
and don't know what to do
how do I go on when I
never stopped loving you

I want to stop the clocks
I want to go back... back in time
I was hoping maybe baby
we could go back and find
where it all went wrong
when things seemed to be going fine
I want to stop the clocks
I want to go back... back in time
I want to stop the clocks
I want to go back... back in time

All Rights Reserved by Edwin H. Balder
Thanks to My Band : Hot Cookie

Want To Go Back In Time By Edwin H. Balder

Bad days in the music space...BAD!

Better Tomorrows By Edwin H. Balder

I walked to the fountain
looked over the edge  
coins tossed in hope
each with a pledge
overture of failures
where nobody showed
no audience came
not one ticket sold
I walked down allys
where sad stories are told

you have all the time
you have all the heart
you have all the say
When things break apart

you have all the tears
you have all the lies
you have all the fears
you have your disguise

you have all the faith
you have all the sorrow
you have to be brave
to have all your Better Tomorrows

U have all the faith
U have all the sorrow
U have to be brave
to have Better Tomorrows


so dam alone & walking the street street
no one around to help me back on my feet
Down back alleys to where Isleep
no hope or promises to keep
close to the edge & ready to leep
broken down so damn deep
with no more tears that I can weep

U have the time
U have the heart
U have the say
When things break apart
U have the tears
U have the lies
U have the fears
U have your disguise
U have all the faith
U have all the sorrow
U have to be brave
to have Better Tomorrows
U have all the faith
U have all the sorrow
U have to be brave
to have Better Tomorrows

All rights reserved By Edwin H. Balder

Thank you to my band Hot Cookie!

Better Tomorrows By Edwin H. Balder

Making contact with hope...

Be What You Want To Be by Songwriter by Edwin H. Balder

Pops of color out the window on  my tour days,
when I could drive to gigs forever,
like sunsets painted on my soul,
or secrets whispered in storm-ee weather.
 Nobody can decipher nature’s code,
Or the music path I  endeavor,
Guitar strings strummed on twilight’s road
Where dreams dance like leaves that fall forever

Highways humm with echos 
like melodies from the stage
Notes tonight like fireflies, refusing to arrange,
hopeing applause removes sorrow from each  newday 
you hit the road again......  set up...get ready to play

Beneath the neon glow of roadside signs,
and jukebox heros sing their worn-out lines,
I  try and cure my pain with each shot of  whiskey,
I'd call home but pretty sure nobody is gonna miss me

Play songs of love lost in desert dust,
Of coyote howls and hearts that rust,
as I listen, my guitar against my chest,
In that dim-lit bar, where time took a rest.

Nobody can decipher nature’s code,
Or the music path I  so endeavor,
Guitar strings strummed on twilight’s road
Where dreams danced like leaves that fall forever


Highways humm with echos 
like melodies from the stage
Notes tonight like fireflies, refusing to arrange,
hopeing applause removes sorrow from each  newday 
you hit the road again......  set up...get ready to play

The jukebox spun old country tunes,
And I wondered  where  I was now marooned,
 someplace Between yesterday’s regrets and tomorrow’s  finger nail moon 

Pops of color
along the road of a
sad song symphony,
Where highways lead to no place and you be what you want  to be
My words, my notes, my music....... my music destiny
Where highways lead to no place and you can be what you want  to be

All Rights Reserved Edwin H. Balder
Thanks so much to my band: Hot Cookie
See Our Music Videos Here> https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-509h42heKT05D8egf2U9w

Be What You Want To Be by Songwriter by Edwin H. Balder

Some of my songs are just right for me now...

Gonna Get Old by Songwriter Edwin H. Balder

hate to be the one to tell ya but you're gonna get old
walk into walls burn stuff on the stove
go to the doctor for a strange looking mole
hate to be the one to tell ya you're gonna get old

they say youth is wasted on the young
not true that' when you should have  fun
plenty of time to get the job done
stay out all night watch the rising sun
travel everyplace while you still can climb
take every adventure that you can find
plenty of time to enter the grind
enjoy procrastination and never you mind

hate to be the one to tell ya but you're gonna get old
walk into walls burn stuff on the stove
go to the doctor for a strange looking mole
hate to be the one to tell ya you're gonna get old

sure go to college get an education
but don't miss out on spring break vacation
let each day discover a new sensation
make any road your best destination
let your heart love let your voice sing
take risks now and see what they bring
lots a time to worry so go do your thing
throw your hat with confidence into any ring

hate to be the one to tell ya but you're gonna get old
walk into walls burn stuff on the stove
go to the doctor for a strange looking mole
hate to be the one to tell ya you're gonna get old

I tell you this now  now that I'm old
I wish back then I had a-be told
make every memory a gift of gold
something forever that you can hold

hate to be the one to tell ya but you're gonna get old
walk into walls burn stuff on the stove
go to the doctor for a strange looking mole
hate to be the one to tell ya you're gonna get old

I tell you this now  now that I'm old
I wish back then I had a-be told
make every memory a gift of gold
something forever that you can hold

hate to be the one to tell ya but you're gonna get old
walk into walls burn stuff on the stove
go to the doctor for a strange looking mole
hate to be the one to tell ya you're gonna get old

Link to  best of my country songs that you can cover https://soundcloud.com/edwin-balder/sets/country-hits-you-might-need?si=307edea8be674dc3bedee9345a814080&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

All Rights Reserved Edwin H. Balder
Thanks so much to my band: Hot Cookie
See Our Music Videos Here> https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-509h42heKT05D8egf2U9w

Gonna Get Old by Songwriter Edwin H. Balder

We Lived it...OOOOOOOOOOH Baby!

Our Music Will Always Last By Songwriter Edwin H. Balder

(Chorus)
When the future looks to the past
our music will always last
Will always last.
Our Music will always last

 (Verse 1) Were you there for Springsteen at the Square 
Or Joni  Mitchell anywhere
Were you …were you there?
Did you see  Zeppelin or Floyd show
David Bowie  front row  
 Did you have to go?
 Did you see them play
 The Beatles  at Shea
 The Stones in LA
  Hendrix at Monterey
  Did you see them play?

 Did you make the quest
 to see Dwaine and Dickey Betts
 8 hour Dead fests
 Even Sinatra’s final sets
Did you make the quest?

(Chorus)
When the future looks to the past
our music will always last
Will always last.
Our Music will always last

(verse 2)What would life mean?
 If you missed Queen
  Airplane,  eagles or Santana’s seen    Never heard Yellow submarine
What would  life mean?
 
  So you saved up all your cash
 To see Crosby stills and Nash
 Even if  Woodstock was just a flash   The Who were a total bash  
Oh Yea...Dylan , Seeger, The Clash
 and Janis holding mass  

(Chorus)
When the future looks to the past
our music will always last
Will always last.
Our Music will always last  

(Bridge )music beyond grand
 we tripped across this land
If you were there ....
you understand

(verse 3) Elvis Presley
Paul Simon
Seger’s Bullet Band   
Elton or Billy on Baby Grand
Journey or U2 taking a stand
 music beyond grand
 we tripped across this land
If you were there ....
you understand

(Chorus)
When the future looks to the past
our music will always last
Will always last.
Our Music will always last 
 will always last

Link to more of my Singer/songwriter style hits you can cover into fame because of your take!

https://soundcloud.com/edwin-balder/sets/best-new-folk-americana?si=04e0155163644977b37cf8c0a04f3c53&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing



All Rights Reserved Edwin H. Balder
Thanks so much to my band: Hot Cookie
See Our Music Videos Here> https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-509h42heKT05D8egf2U9w

Our Music Will Always Last By Songwriter Edwin H. Balder

Love Is Love

Roses In The Night By Edwin H. Balder

Innuendos dance, a secret masquerade,
Words like silk,  hidden meanings laid.
Whispers in  shadows, lips so close,
 playing with fire, and nobody knows.
nobody knows. ...nobody knows.

Between the lines, we find our sanctuary,
A language of desire, whispered vocabulary.
Double meanings bloom, like roses in the night,
Our hearts entangled, lost in unspoken  delight

like roses in the night,
like roses in the night,
like roses in the night,

She sips her wine, eyes locked on mine,
Her laughter a code, a tantalizing sign.
I'm decoding her curves, tracing every line,
Our double entendres—dangerously divine. dangerously divine. dangerously divine.

Between the lines, we find our sanctuary,
A language of desire, whispered vocabulary.
Double meanings bloom, like roses in the night,
Our hearts entangled, lost in unspoken  delight

like roses in the night,
like roses in the night,
like roses in the night,

leaing  in low, voice a velvet tease,
A wink, a nod—the art of sweet unease.
We're fencing with words, a risqué ballet,
Desire wrapped in syllables, leading us astray.


Between the lines, we find our sanctuary,
A language of desire, whispered vocabulary.
Double meanings bloom, like roses in the night,
Our hearts entangled, lost in unspoken  delight

like roses in the night,
like roses in the night,
like roses in the night,


Bridge the gap, bridge the gap,
Across the chasm of what's said and unsaid.
We're tightrope walkers, balancing on wit,
A linguistic tango, where pleasure and danger fit.


Between the lines, we find our sanctuary,
A language of desire, whispered vocabulary.
Double meanings bloom, like roses in the night,
Our hearts entangled, lost in unspoken  delight

like roses in the night,
like roses in the night,
like roses in the night....

Link to the best of my R & B, Soul, Funky, Hip Hop, Rap & Blues Bangers you can cover  to add hit power to your world https://soundcloud.com/edwin-balder/sets/hit-r-b-funky-bangers-by-edwin?si=a366189f83684571b35fd59768210669&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

All Rights Reserved Edwin H. Balder
Thanks so much to my band: Hot Cookie
See Our Music Videos Here> https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-509h42heKT05D8egf2U9w

Roses In The Night By Edwin H. Balder

Fuel me ...

Coffee Oh Coffee  by songwriter Edwin H. Balder


going back for another cup
coffee Can't get enough

my morning’s magic,
 my midnight’s muse. 
 every bean, a story told
sip by sip liquid gold
 magical potion
fire up the emotion in me
coffee..............
 coffee oh.... coffee


 Ethiopia 
Coffee   beverage utopia
 Espresso cup, bitter
 delight,
twist of lemon...just right............just right.


going back for another cup
coffee Can't get enough


Coffee beautuful brew, 
my morning’s magic,
 my midnight’s muse. 
 every bean, a story told
sip by sip liquid gold
 magical potion
fire up the emotion in me
coffee..............
 coffee oh.... coffee

 old  beat cafés,  poets teach beatnik plays 
Now they sell CDs  breakfast tofu
  vibes change, but not  love for our brew

going back for another cup
coffee Can't get enough



 Coffee beautuful brew, 
my morning’s magic,
 my midnight’s muse. 
 every bean, a story told
sip by sip liquid gold
 magical potion
fire up the emotion in me
coffee..............
 coffee oh.... coffee

 Morning wonder, after-meal bliss, 
A pleasure you never want to miss. Dark roast, cappuccino, cold brew blend, ,
 morning start 
dinners end 

 every corner of the world found,
 Coffee shops  beans freshly ground Handcrafted drinks, barista’s pride,  first sip, ready to ride


going back for another cup
coffee Can't get enough



 Coffee beautuful brew, 
my morning’s magic,
 my midnight’s muse. 
 every bean, a story told
sip by sip liquid gold
 magical potion
fire up the emotion in me
coffee..............
 coffee oh.... coffee
coffee..............
 coffee oh.... coffee

Link to more of our Singer/songwriter style hits you can cover into fame because of your take!

https://soundcloud.com/edwin-balder/sets/best-new-folk-americana?si=04e0155163644977b37cf8c0a04f3c53&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing



All Rights Reserved Edwin H. Balder
Thanks so much to my band: Hot Cookie
See Our Music Videos Here> https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-509h42heKT05D8egf2U9w

Coffee Oh Coffee  By songwriter Edwin H. Balder

A true 3 ring wonder.....

Hey Clown by songwriter Edwin H. Balder

Maybe I should get a big fuzzy wig, Big red nose, shoes way too big.
 A loud horn to squeeze, to tell you I'm around, 
‘Cause baby, you turned me into a clown.

 Storybook romance, took me in, Everything love could be, will power thin. 
Next thing you know, we're in Vegas getting hitched,
 I was one thing one day, then my life got switched.

 Maybe I should get a big fuzzy wig, Big red nose, shoes way too big.
 A loud horn to squeeze, to tell you I'm around, 
‘Cause baby, you turned me into a clown.

Worked for a while, you pulled me in deep,
 Motivated me to work harder, grab everything I could keep.
 You managed the money, I managed bringing it home,
 Now I’m sitting here broke and so damn alone.

 Maybe I should get a big fuzzy wig, Big red nose, shoes way too big.
 A loud horn to squeeze, to tell you I'm around, 
‘Cause baby, you turned me into a clown.


 Won't talk to my family or even my friends, Hard to see anyone, the way this one ends. 
You’re off someplace, living off my sweat,
 Me here like a clown who lost a giant bet.

(Bridge) Now I see the truth, the lies and deceit,
 I’m broken, torn, totally  beat 
in your circus, I played the fool, 
Now I’m just a joke, played by your rules.



In your show, I played my part
, But now it's time, I'll guard my heart. Played by tricks, 
Cue the circus sound, 
Just a broken man,
 lost and found.
Hey Clown..
Hey Clown
Played by tricks, 
Cue the circus sound, 
Just a broken man,
 lost and found.
hey Clown
Hey clown.....

Link to more of our Singer/songwriter style hits you can cover into fame because of your take!

https://soundcloud.com/edwin-balder/sets/best-new-folk-americana?si=04e0155163644977b37cf8c0a04f3c53&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing



All Rights Reserved Edwin H. Balder
Thanks so much to my band: Hot Cookie
See Our Music Videos Here> https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-509h42heKT05D8egf2U9w

Hey Clown by songwriter Edwin H. Balder

Written and performed by NICK DUANE
Track 3 from the album 'CREDIBILITY'

THE STARS ALIGN    (from the album CREDIBILITY)

Taken from the oral history of Bedford Falls:

“My friends and I, back in the seemingly endless golden summer of our childhood, all knew the story of the town; how could we not know it? We drank it in with every drink of water until the very cells in our body were awash with the story of how the town came in to being and how it ceased to be. 

Our parents’ generation remembered the tree-dappled summer streets lined with shops, and with places to sit and talk as the shadows lengthened; for in those days the town - and the world in general - had enough time and space in twenty-four hours to progress at a much more leisurely pace than us youngsters born in the ‘30s would ever know. By the time we had seen eight or nine summers the town was already gone; a faraway place that we would and could never visit.

But then, the world our parents knew had begun to spin faster; the light of oil lanterns on the porches of the scattered homesteads with their glow-worm warmth, had been replaced by electric light bulbs, piercing the blue-black ink of night until the stars seemed to fade at their brilliance.

Of course, electric lights and all the other modern inventions that had begun to creep into people’s lives needed electricity and so it was decided to dam the river to power the turbines that would make people’s lives spin at an ever-increasing rate.

So the town to us was an intangible somewhere deep beneath the surface of the waters and yet, every so often, a small reminder of the town would surface. Shivering in the golden sunlight we would hear of someone, a friend of a friend,  who diving deep in the still early morning hours would catch a glimpse of the pharmacist sweeping the sunken sidewalk outside his shop; or a canopy being unfolded to prevent the none-existent sun from bleaching the window display of submerged handbags and fish-caressed umbrellas.

My friends spent many of the seemingly endless days swimming and hoping to catch a glimpse of such wonders but, sadly, we never did. Perhaps it was because we were there too early, or maybe too late? We swore we’d never stop trying and we didn’t, well, until other things - like girls and wars - captured our fickle imagination.

Now, after so many years, when I’m nearer to the end of the story than the beginning and I’ve lived long enough to finally sit on my own glow-worm glowing porch; now, when I’ve turned my back on the lake and face instead the ocean of stars above my rural hideaway, now I imagine I can sometimes hear distant church bells singing beneath the midnight waters and see, in my mind’s eye, the tree-lined streets with shops and places to sit. 

I’m clearly remembering a time from before I was born, from before I learned to swim in the sky above the small town; a time when twenty four hours really did feel like twenty-four hours instead of the merest flash that could’ve been a shooting star, or maybe sunlight on the scales of a fish”

The Small Town Reawakens

''We dance on the edge,
The edge of life,
You come to me,
and ease my strife.
Our love is entwined,
I seek comfort in your arms,
We breath in time,
Your embrace is fine!
I  look in your eyes,
Your strength makes me sigh,
Our hearts are as one,
They beat and shall never be undone!''

makes me sigh

Code Yellow

A musical depiction of 9 year old me, staring up at the night sky and wondering if, when they got there, I’d be able to see the astronauts on the moon

The Night Sky (1969)


time...(time) what time...(is it...)...


I’ve watched the dawn break a thousand times or more,
Each one a masterpiece I couldn’t ignore.
The sky paints in whispers, a blush on the air,
A moment so fragile, yet too grand to compare.
I’ve counted my days by the rise and the fall,
But now I’m countin’ ‘em all, feelin’ smaller and small.


‘Cause I love the sunrise like a promise unbroken,
And the sunset like a prayer softly spoken.
When your days are numbered, you learn how to see,
The beauty in the leaving, the light in the free...(light in the free)...
.light... in.... the.... free......



The shadows stretch long, then they fade into gold,
A story half-told, but still beautiful.
And the evenings, they linger like a bittersweet friend,
A beginning, an ending, and the time in between.
I’ve walked through the years, but I’m standin’ here still,
With a heart that’s grown fuller, though the clock’s lost its will.


‘Cause I love the sunrise like a promise unbroken,
And the sunset like a prayer softly spoken.
When your days are numbered, you learn how to see,
The beauty in the leaving, the light in the free...(light in the free)...
.light... in.... the.... free......

They say time’s just a river, but I’ve felt it as rain,
Each drop a reminder of joy and of pain.
And though the current may pull me where I don’t want to go,
I’ll cling to the light, let it warm my soul.
‘Cause the sun doesn’t care if it’s your first or your last,
It just rises and falls, like.. the ...moments ....that.... pass.
(...moments ....that.... pass.)

I sit on this porch with the sky as my guide,
watch as the morning and evening collide.
The years may have weathered these hands and this face,
But the sun still reminds me of love’s endless grace.

‘Cause I love the sunrise like a promise unbroken,
And the sunset like a prayer softly spoken.
When your days are numbered, you learn how to see…
The beauty in the leaving, the light in the free...(light in the free)...
.light... in.... the.... free......

when ..my.. final ..dawn ..breaks, 
my last sunset fades,
I’ll ..smile.. at.. the ..beauty
 that... never... betrayed....

Link to more of our Singer/songwriter style hits you can cover into fame because of your take!

https://soundcloud.com/edwin-balder/sets/best-new-folk-americana?si=04e0155163644977b37cf8c0a04f3c53&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing



All Rights Reserved Edwin H. Balder
Thanks so much to my band: Hot Cookie
See Our Music Videos Here> https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-509h42heKT05D8egf2U9w


In The Free by songwriter Edwin H. Balder

In the shadows of Apache Junction, at the foot of the majestic Superstition Mountains, sits a weathered hacienda. This desert oasis is home to an enigmatic figure, a songwriter whose journey reads like a long, dusty road of honky-tonk bars and college cafeterias. He wasn't chasing fame or glitter; instead, he chose the soul-crushing beauty of music for music's sake.

Years spent hunched over sticky barroom tables and scribbling lyrics on napkins earned him a reputation—not in the spotlight but in the back rooms where deals are made. He wrote melodies that found their way into the hearts of stars who had lost their own muse. He sold his creations for cash, with no recognition, but the whisper of his songs carried the weight of his soul.

Finally, he bought this piece of desert paradise—a stable income from his timeless songs allowed him to live comfortably, if anonymously. Here in this hacienda, with his family beside him and the mountains as his backdrop, he found the peace to write hits under his own name. He chuckled at the irony that now, without chasing fame, he could create music that brought him joy.

In the end, it was never about the spotlight. It was about the journey, the stories, and the songs that wrote themselves through his life. As the sun set behind the Superstitions, casting long shadows over the hacienda, he strummed his guitar and sang—content, unknown, and unburdened by the world's gaze.


Copyright 2019 Edwin H. Balder

I may be dead when fame comes but my real glory was always JULIE & The Kids. Thank you for such love

In The Free by songwriter Edwin H. Balder

Edwin Balder